New reserve of poetry motivated by neighborhood artist’s pandemic yr journey

By JENNIFER COHRON

When the earth came to a standstill past 12 months in the course of the pandemic, Joe Mykut established out on a cross-state journey with his pet dog, Yogi.

Mykut, a 2000 graduate of Walker Substantial College, expended over 6 months touring by way of 22 states, spending his way by producing and providing art and paying many nights in a tent in some of the most attractive destinations in the place.

“I felt the craziness and the chaos developing all over us. Quarantine was the catalyst that pushed me out the doorway. It was the issue that whether or not as a result of concern or disappointment became the straw that broke the camel’s back again,” he reported. 

For Mykut, the pandemic yr coincided with a spiritual and emotional awakening, or kundalini. Poetry helped him procedure what was going on in his possess life as nicely as the society he experienced remaining powering and was then observing from a distance. 

The poems grew to become “Cosmic Poetry: From Darkness Comes Gentle,” a self-released energy that is accessible now at www.blurb.com as well as on Apple iBooks.

The title is reflective of the poems them selves, which comprise whimsy as effectively as darker activities widespread to human mother nature, as nicely as the unforeseen alternatives that some people found during the pandemic.

“There was a lot of leeway with that time, and it was up to us to make the most of that practical experience. We could sit at property and be a sofa potato and allow the information feed us, but I have been motivated by folks who taught by themselves new trades or did factors they have been placing off eternally. For me, it was journey. I had set it off for so long and experienced waited for somebody to do it with me, but then I realized there was no time like now when actuality as we knew it experienced shifted. The concept at the rear of the title is what we did with this definitely darkish, uncertain time,” he mentioned.

Mykut, a initial-time creator, is currently searching forward to future ebook assignments, which include a vacation memoir, a coffee table e book featuring his photos from the excursion and a children’s book.

The latter is impressed by a poem Mykut wrote about a Suess-like character termed an Umbrellox that has the deal with of a fox, the human body of a dragon and an umbrella tail. 

As wintertime established in, Mykut decided to shift back again to Jasper for the first time in his adult everyday living. While he experienced options to go on his excursion in the spring, he ultimately resolved to keep.

He is now living shut to his spouse and children and doing the job as a server to fork out the payments though shelling out the rest of his time working on his books and his artwork underneath the enterprise identify Cosmic Development Station.

“I under no circumstances saw myself remaining here at the moment I published my 1st reserve, but I have appear total circle to finish up back again in my hometown and residing a block away from the large school I graduated in,” he stated.

Far more from Mykut can be observed on Fb pages for Cosmic Poetry as well as Cosmic Generation Station. Images from his travels are on Instagram @timetravelerjam.